I am not a tremendous fan of baseball, but I am a fan of good writing and The Essential W.P. Kinsella is a collection of outstanding short fiction.

Kinsella is probably best known for his novel Shoeless Joe, which was the inspiration for the movie Field of Dreams. Reading through this collection it becomes clear that Kinsella has a definite affinity for baseball and baseball players. But in a testament to the power of Kinsella’s writing, the stories aren’t so much about baseball but about people, using baseball as backdrop or even a catalyst for action.

I say that I’m not a fan of baseball, but this doesn’t mean that I hate the game or have never watched it. I just am not obsessed with it the way I have seen some people react to the sport. Kinsella understands this obsession, perhaps shares it, and uses it to tell powerful stories.

Right from the start, Kinsella made me smile. A turn of a phrase, the recognition of a trait in a character, the understanding of a look or a desire, the shared secret between a character and myself … Kinsella captures it all so well and I was constantly smiling through these stories, which seems an unusual reaction to a work of fiction, but felt good all the same!

I tried to keep track of my favorite stories but it soon became evident that this was both easy, because I enjoyed them all, and difficult – how do you pick favorites from 30+ stories when you enjoy them all? “How I Got My Nickname” was one of the first stories that put a big smile on my face, and “The Indian Nation Cultural Exchange Program” hit home with me as it seemed to capture a mood and culture so perfectly.

This is the sort of book that I want to put into the hands of everyone I know and tell them to read these stories. They are about life and the people that make life worth living.

This is the third Dresden Files graphic novel that I’ve had the pleasant opportunity to read and review. I’ve noticed two things in regards to the series, based on these three books. 1) The writing is crisp. The storytelling is very good, with plots that intrigue and a good command of the special needs for writing for comics/graphic novels. You generally don’t need to know the background of Harry Dresden to enjoy these stories. 2) The artwork varies.

In this graphic novel, Down Town, PI wizard Harry Dresden has taken on a new apprentice, Molly Carpenter. Molly isn’t ready to tackle anything too large, but sometimes circumstances force our hand. There is a killer running around Chicago, and there’s magic afoot. With Dresden, with Molly and his hound Mouse, will face a foe who doesn’t tremble at the thought of facing retribution by the White Council (a group of wizard bent on protecting humans from abuses of magical powers). In fact, it appears to spur the older wizard on.

Dresden’s powers are no match for this other wizard, and clearly his apprentice, who has just barely learned to move an object a short distance with her powers, will be of little help. It will take much more than he anticipated to survive this mission.

I was quite interested in the story, though I will admit that I wanted to learn more about his new assistant. I trust that she’ll play a more prominent role in future issues. But I was generally engaged and found the familiar characters reacted much as I expect them to, based on my very little knowledge of them.

The art, unfortunately, brings the story down. It was, at best, fine. The characters are generally recognizable (which should go without saying, but doesn’t always) but the art doesn’t enhance the story. Rather than helping to tell the story, the art simply moves along, feeling just a little behind what we already know from the reading. That’s really the best way to describe it. Rather than pushing the story forward, building momentum and excitement, it just feels as though it’s holding the story back.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, and I’m enjoying the series and I wish the art could continue to be of the highest order.

Looking for a good book? The graphic novel, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: Down Town, is a strong story in the Harry Dresden series, though the art could be more helpful.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit that I don’t know nearly as much as I should about the struggle of slaves in America and their flight to freedom and emancipation, despite the fact that there’s a slavery underground house just a few blocks from my home. Certainly I’ve read about it in history classes, but it was always just a concept that we read about, to me.

What this collection did was make it much more personal, because the essays included are told by the slaves who have escaped to freedom. Here, the horrors of slavery become real (“I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would send another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell, if he could” says Harriet Tubman). To endure what these people did; to be hunted; to hide at day and move at night in unfamiliar territory; to leave behind family (if they weren’t already sold and sent away) … the conditions for these people had to be absolutely horrific.

I think this came clearest for me in the very simple “Letter from His Old Mistress and His Reply” by Reverend J. W. Loguen. A woman (clearly down on her luck after her husband has passed away) writes a letter to her runaway, former slave, trying to convince him to buy his freedom for $1000 and appeals to his Christian charity. His response is tremendous.

All of the essays and recollections here are really great (in an educational way for those of us who can never imagine this sort of life). I was also moved by “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs and “Born on a Slave Ship” by Margaret. But truly, everything here is powerful and reminds the reader how strong these people had to be to do what they did … and of course these are only some of the stories from those who successfully made the escape to freedom.

This book contains the following essays:

“Arrived by Adams’ Express” (Henry Box Brown) by William Sill
“Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave (excerpt)” by William Wells Brown
“Ex-President Tyler’s Household Loses an Aristocratic “Article”” (James Hambleton Christian) by William Still
“Arrival from Delaware, 1858: A Desperate, Bloody Struggle – Gun, Knife and Fire Shovel, Used by an Infuriated Master” (Theophilus Collins) by William Still
“An Abolitionist in the Underground” (Seth Concklin) by William Still
“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” by Frederick Douglas
“Blood Flowed Freely: Two Passengers Secreted in a Vessel Loaded with Spirits of Turpentine p Shrouds Prepared t Prevent Being Smoked to Death” (Abram Galloway and Richard Eden) by William Still
“The Slave Mother Who Killed Her Child Rather Than See It Taken Back to Slavery” (Margaret Garner) by Levi Coffin
“Fleeing from Davis, a Negro Trader, Secreted Under a Hotel, Up a Tree, Under a Floor, in a Thicket, on a Steamer” (Charles Gilbert) by William Still
“How Their Grandpa Brought Emancipation to Loads of Slaves” (Arnold Gragston) by Federal Writers’ Project American Guide, Pearl Randolph
“Ten Years in the Penitentiary for Having a Copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (Samuel Green, alias Wesley Kinnard) by William Still
“Slave-Holder in Maryland with Three Colored Wives” (Jamie Griffin, alias Thomas Brown) by William Still
“Arrival from North Carolina, 1857—Feet Slit for Running Away, Flogged, Stabbed, Stayed in the Hollow of a Big Poplar Tree, Visited by a Snake, Abode in a Cave” (Harry Grimes) by William Still
“The Slave-Hunting Tragedy in Lancaster County, in September 1851: Treason at Christiana” (James Hamlet and Others) by William Still
“The Slave Woman Who Crossed the Ohio River on the Drifting Ice with Her Child in Her Arms” (Eliza Harris) by Levi Coffin
“The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (1849)” by Josiah Henson
“Five Years and One Month Secreted” (John Henry Hill) by William Still
“Arrival from Maryland, 1859” (Ann Maria Jackson and Her Seven Children) by William Still
“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)” by Harriet Jacobs
“Trial of the Emancipators of Col. J. H. Wheeler’s Slaves, Jane Johnson and Her Two Little Boys” (Jane Johnson) by William Still
“Arrival from the Old Dominion: Nine Very Fine ‘Articles'” (Lew Jones, Oscar Payne, Mose Wood, Dave Diggs, Jack, Hen, and Bill Dade, and Joe Ball) by William Still
“Letter from His Old Mistress and His Reply [The Liberator]” by Reverend J.W. Loguen
“Arrivals from Different Places: Captured and Carried Back” (Matilda Mahoney and Dr. J. W. Pennington’s Brother and Sons) by William Still
“Born on a Slave Ship” (Margaret) by Eber M. Pettit
“Arrival from Virginia, 1858” (Mary Frances Melvin, Eliza Henderson, and Nancy Grantham) by William Still
“Seeing a Ray of Hope She Availed Herself of the Opportunity to Secure Her Freedom” (Aunt Hannah Moore) by William Still
“Arrival from Virginia, 1858” (Alfred S. Thornton) by William Still
“Narrative of Sojourner Truth” by Sojourner Truth
“Harriet Tubman: The Moses of her People)” and “‘Moses’ Arrives with Six Passengers” (Harriet Tubman) by William Still
“Escape from Alabama Is Almost Impossible” (Philip Younger) by Benjamin Drew
Appendix: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: “An Act Respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons Escaping from the Service of Their Masters” [United States Congress]
Bibliography

This is an important book and it really should be read by all high school and college students.

Looking for a good book? Editors Christine Rudisel and Bob Blaisdell have put together a fantastic collection of stories of slaves who have managed to make it to freedom with this book, Slave Narratives of the Underground Railroad.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Ayesha Ryder is a an adventurer, much like Indiana Jones, and in this book, she’s on the hunt for the Maltese Falcon, a real item of legend (though it looks much different from that in the movie) which supposedly lead the owner to another item of legend: the sword once owned by King Harold of the Battle of Hastings.

When Ayesha meets with her contact, she finds him dying, the victim of an assassin. Ayesha knows she’s likely a target now and seeks to escape. At this time, the British Prime Minister, a friend of Ayesha’s, is also assassinated (poisoned) and all the evidence points to Ayesha as his killer. She now needs to evade her own associates as well as those out to kill her.

To aid in her flight, she teams up with Joram Tate, a librarian, and together they need to prove Ayesha’s innocence and stop the downfall of the United Kingdom, while searching for clues to the legendary treasure.

Ryder: Bird of Prey is the third book in a series by Nick Pengelley. This is the first book I’ve read and I didn’t feel I had missed out on too much. The book stands alone on its own adventure. There are references to people and/or events that I presume occurred in one of the earlier books, but the necessary information was provided to keep me reading.

Ayesha Ryder strikes me as an attempt to create a female adventure/thriller hero, ala Mack Bolan or The Executioner, which I thought was a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, I was never able to relate to Ayesha or to any of the other characters in the book. Although there was a great deal of mentioning sexual attraction, there was never any chemistry between the characters and the talk seemed to be to let the reader know that they were attracted to one another instead of just showing us. And Ayesha’s skills in fighting were a little beyond real – which is okay in this type of story – but while we are told she’s got her doctorate (which should make her totally bad-ass … smart, good-looking, AND a fighter with crazy mad skills), she often makes the worst choices, relying on fighting rather than thinking things through. The better adventure heroes (and I include James Bond and Indiana Jones in this category) rely on all their skills in equal measure. Ayesha seems to fall back to the fighting and never considers all the angles first.

I have to admit that I didn’t expect a lot of character development in a book of this type, but I felt that there was even less than I was expecting. These weren’t even interesting stereotypes. The idea … the hunt for the historic and legendary artifacts … is what got me through this book, but I can’t really recommend it.

Looking for a good book? There are a lot of adventure hero books to choose from, and while Ayesha Ryder, in Ryder: Bird of Prey, by Nick Pengelley, is an interesting concept, it just doesn’t live up to all the adventurers who have gone before.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Having grown up Lutheran but now married to a Catholic, I’ve often been asked, “Well, what do Lutherans think about that?” And like all good Lutherans, I wouldn’t have a clue.

This is an amazingly concise and readable book full of history (Christian in general and Lutheran specifically) and a comprehensive explanation why Lutherans worship in the way that they do. It also explains why certain things are said at every worship (the Kyrie, the Creed, the Votum, the Sanctus, etc) – where they came from and why they’re important.

The book manages to include some pop-culture references, making it all the more accessible to modern readers. Darth Vader is mentioned in a section on faith:

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” says Darth Vader after Admiral Motti criticizes him for his devotion to the mysterious Star Wars “Force.” Darth Vader is right—not about the “Force,” but about a lack of faith. A lack of faith is disturbing.

Each section of the book begins with a “What you’ll learn” in the next few chapters, making it easier for those looking for specific information.

The end of the book contains a number of helpful appendices. A Christian History Basics timeline. A Biblical Events Timeline. Weird and Wonderful Bible Facts. A listing of Messiah Prophecies. A month by month listing of commemorations. And even a listing of Lutheran churches around the world.

If you are at all curious, whether it be simply out of interest in religious history, or a personal faith journey, this book is well worth reading.

Looking for a good book? Lutheranism 101 is a comprehensive (but easy-to-read) manual on what it means to be, and how to worship as, a Lutheran.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.